>> wouldn't mind joining those two on a trip to colorado. we'll see the rest of that interview later on this week. it's quite extraordinary. "ac 360 starts now." two on a little trip to colorado. the rest of that interview this week. it's quite extraordinary. that's all for us tonight. "a.c. 360" starts right now. the explosions continue to rock this city that we have seen all throughout the day. we've also just this evening as we have throughout the day seen a number of rockets being fired from gaza city from the central area in gaza city toward israel. a number of those rockets have been intercepted. it's not clear how many may have gotten through this evening alone. there's a lot to tell you about today. most significantly a big strike on a building just several blocks from here that houses a number of media organizations, local media and also some foreign media organizations. it's a building that was struck on sunday and had largely been evacuated. but today the building was struck.

again, the lower floors were struck again. one member of islamic jihad was said to be killed. that's confirmed by israeli and palestinian sources. a lot to tell you about. here's what the day looked like. >> reporter: day six of the battle between hamas and israeli defense forces. day six rockets crisscrossing the border. despite efforts to broker a cease-fire, the spector of the israeli ground invasion is still very real. this strike occurred around 2:00 a.m. when we were live. also two media centers -- whoa! that was a rather large explosion. that occurred -- let me just look out here -- i can't actually see where the impact of that was. it's actually set off a number of car alarms. but that was probably the largest explosion that we've heard just in the past really in the past hour. >> reporter: by daylight, the results of that strike were

clear. and this is the result of the explosion that we witnessed last night. it's the police station or a police station in gaza city. local people say it was still being built, so there weren't a lot of police officers or anybody inside. two people were injured. it's not clear who they were, but the building is destroyed. it will take quite a while to rebuild. all night long drones fly over looking for targets, but it hasn't stopped the rockets from being fired into israel. that's a rocket that's just been fired. you see the smoke trail in the sky. that's the fifth rocket we've seen being fired in the last 20 minutes or so. on the israeli side of the board experiences the terror that's the reality for those living within the rockets' range. >> reporter: we have an alarm going off right now. we're going to have to seek cover. it seems like something impacted in the distance. i'm not sure how far away. there over in the sky, there's an interceptor mssile taking

off now. that is the iron dome interceptor. if you just saw the flash in the sky, that was a rocket coming out of gaza that was just intercepted right now. >> reporter: back in gaza, a targeted strike on the second story of a building that houses various media groups. two people are killed, one of them an official from islamic jihad who had an office in the building. islamic jihad is a group that israel and the u.s. consider a terrorist organization. regular life here in gaza city is pretty much ground to a halt. stores are closed and shuttered, streets which would normally be full of people largely empty. most people try to stay indoors, only venturing out when they absolutely need to in order to buy supplies for their families. otherwise it's just too dangerous to go out. these days for israelis along the border and residents of gaza city, there is no such thing as regular life. as the battle enters its seventh day, casualties rage and grief

grow on both sides of the border along with the fear that the worst may be yet to come. and i'm joined by wolf blitzer in jerusalem, also here with ben wedeman and arwa damon. yesterday you were at the scene of probably what was then the most controversial attack, on a strike what israeli forces said was owned by a hamas official, a commander of an artillery unit. they said initially he had been killed and they stepped back from that. a number of members of a family, at least nine members of a family, were killed. what was the scene like? >> reporter: it was very intense. there was a lot of anger. there was a lot of frustration. and there was also a certain sense of resignation. people here have been through this before. and they fully expect to have to go through it once again. people were frantically digging through the rubble. some of them were even using their bare hands screaming for shovels, for anything they could possibly find. they were hoping to find survivors, but, of course, we now know that was not the case.

>> reporter: we've got some of your report. let's play that. >> reporter: the large slab of concrete and mangled metal finally gives way. buried beneath it, another lifeless body. it's the second child we've seen. there was also a baby. others in the neighborhood say the blast killed all ten people who lived here. the rescue efforts are not always so hopeless. not far from here just the day before, 11-month-old ahmed and his 4-year-old sister both survived a multiple missile strike on their home. >> reporter: and obviously an attack like that, it accentuates people's anger toward israel here in gaza. >> reporter: of course it does. it most certainly does. in this other house that we went to visit, that family that did survive the air strike, we were speaking with the mother, and she was the last person to be extracted from the building.

and she was saying that, you know, yes on the one hand she does want revenge, but at the same time, she was saying that more important than that, she wants peace. people are so exhausted. they've been through this so many times. >> reporter: yeah. ben wedeman was at the funeral for that family today, that family of nine. let's play some of his piece. >> reporter: the body of 5-year-old yusef is held aloft as calls ring out for revenge. in life, yusef was a child known only to his family and friends. in death, yet another potent symbol for the cameras and the angry crowds. their bodies were carried through the street to the sound of gunfire under the banners of hamas to the cemetery. when the crowd leaves and the chanting stops, the real mourning begins. friends and relatives quietly pray for the dead. quiet tears are shed for the latest to die so suddenly without warning.

>> reporter: how hardened have the positions come on both sides of this border? >> reporter: certainly they're harder than i've ever seen before. in israel, there really is sort of an exhausted anger at the fact that these rockets have been coming over for so long. and now for the first time this time, they're hitting places like tel aviv and jerusalem. on this side, there's a real sense of hopelessness that they've gone through the camp david accords. they've watched their leaders go into talks time and time again with israel. now they're ruled by hamas, much more rejectionist than the plo was years ago. but they feel that, you know, the best they can hope for now is not peace or a solution, but just a period of relative calm. >> reporter: wolf blitzer, you were here earlier today, and i think we have some of that report. let's play that. i'm told we don't have that. we'll have that later on. what did you see? because obviously that is a town that has been hard hit, and people unfortunately have become

very used to having to run for cover when some of these rockets are fired into israel. >> reporter: you know, it was pretty eerie, i've got to tell you, it's a city of about 100,000 people. literally when we got there, we went to a high school where there had been a rocket that hit that high school earlier in the day. we wanted to see what it was like as we were pulling into the parking lot to the high school. all of a sudden sirens went off, and we realized that a rocket or missile or whatever was heading towards our way. then these israeli soldiers came running out and said get in, get, follow us, 30 seconds, 30 seconds, and we followed them into a shelter where it was crowded inside. israeli soldiers, civilians that we were in for a couple minutes, and then we finally emerged. and we did hear these loud thumps in the sky. and then we saw these plumes of clouds. it was one of those iron dome anti-missile systems that had destroyed the incoming rocket coming in. as a result, there was nobody

hurt. but it was a terrifying scene. a lot of people were scared, especially the young kids were very scared. this goes on all the time. there have been about 1,000 of these rockets that have been launched in the past six days from gaza into israel. the iron dome has worked pretty successfully, anderson. about 90% of the missiles, the anti-missiles that were launched, worked. and they only use it when they sense that one of these rockets or missiles is heading towards a populated area or a strategically important area. if it's just going to a farmland or rural area, they're not going to use it. but it's been pretty successful so far. it's probably saved a lunch of live bunch of lives. when the israeli cabinet meets, it could go either way, a cease-fire or all-out israeli ground invasion. >> reporter: we're going to talk to a member of -- a spokesman for the foreign ministry in just a few moments. ben, explain how the level of

sophistication of these rockets that are hamas and other groups here in gaza has increased and also how are they able to get rockets in? >> reporter: well, they're much more sophisticated than they were six years ago. i went to a rocket factory here, and it was very crude. no guidance systems, made with basically fertilizer repellent. now they're getting these rockets through the tunnels in the southern border with egypt. some of them is more than one stage. it's a long rocket. it has to be disassembled and brought in. and this has increased the range of the rockets fired by hamas and the other resistance organizations as far as jerusalem and tel aviv. and that has real significant change. really the most significant change we've seen in the conflict between hamas and israel for quite some time. >> reporter: you and i were also on the scene about four or five blocks from here earlier in the day when three israeli missiles hit the second floor of the media center. explain what happened there earlier. >> reporter: that was about 3:20 in the afternoon, and we saw

three rockets hit the building. one hit the front. we saw a great big ball of flame coming out. very quickly, a large crowd of journalists, of course, and first responders, the fire department, the ambulances showed up. they did bring out a man on a stretcher. his body was completely charred. he appeared lifeless. >> reporter: his clothes had been burned off. >> reporter: completely, absolutely. and we do believe that he is this member of islamic jihad who is the leader of their so-called military media office. >> reporter: and so the israelis are saying he was one of the targets -- they said a number of people from islamic jihad in the building. >> reporter: in addition to him, there was a scopekeephopkeeper as a result of the blast, so another victim. >> reporter: arwa, you both are fluent in arabic, obviously you've been talking to people in the marketplace. for regular life for people, and i think we just saw the skylight

up, just saw another explosion off in the distance there, pretty distant because not a huge sound. regular life here has pretty much ground to a halt as it has on the israeli side of the border in these border towns. >> reporter: it most certainly has. and you walk through the streets -- >> reporter: and again, you probably picked up that one. that was actually a little bit closer. it almost sounds like rolling thunder kind of echoing in this densely populated city. go on. >> reporter: it sounds like that, experiences like this that have effectively driven people indoors because they do believe as if they have no way to keep themselves safe other than try to stay well inside. you drive through the streets here at any time of day, and they are completely deserted, especially after dark when people tell us that that is when the strikes are really intensifying. when you drive through here during the day, you feel as if you're almost in any other war zone because it's so deserted. the shops are closed. the reality is that the people have not fled. they have nowhere to go. and a lot of the families that we're talking to are saying that

the best thing they can do is really sit at home and pray. tonight we were in a home where 30 members of one family had crowded together. the children were all under foot because they felt their own neighborhoods were simply too dangerous for them to stay in. >> reporter: we hear this on both sides of the border. regular life for families, for children, for women, very much affected by this, obviously. appreciate your reporting. we'll continue to have more from ben and arwa and also wolf blitzer in jerusalem. i want to bring in a spokesman for the israel foreign ministry. i appreciate you being with us. there's been a lot of talk, a lot of rumors over the last 24 hours about a possible cease-fire, about a negotiated settleme settlement. i know the israeli cabinet met this evening. what's the latest on that? >> i can't say because, obviously, while negotiations are going on, we're not going to disclose any details. all i can say is that there are contacts, and we are trying to explore diplomatic ways to end

this. but as we have stated since the beginning of this operation, the only objective of this operation, the only objective we are trying to achieve is to stop rocket fire on israeli civilians, but not just to obtain a short-term truce that will be broken again and again by hamas but to obtain the is he sayi cessation for a very long period. we have tried to explore diplomatic ways by alerting the security council, by trying to file official complaints with the security council and hoping that they will take a stance or do something. and if that didn't work, we had to use the army. we had to launch the operation. now, if there's a diplomatic possibility to stop rocket fire through some sort of arrangement or agreement or anything of the sort, then, of course, we will not shun it. we will try to explore that. otherwise if that fails, we will continue to use military means

to try and stop rockets. >> reporter: hamas is saying they're insisting not only on cease-fire by israel but also opening up the virtual blockade of gaza for any kind of peace deal can be made. for israel, what are the minimum requirements for a deal to be made? you say clearly, obviously, the stopping of firing of rockets by hamas and other groups here in gaza. is there anything else? >> the firing of rockets needs to stop. and it needs to stop for a long time, and there need to be many guarantees for that, of course, because we're not going to just take hamas's word for it or islamic jihad's word for it. nobody would. how exactly to do that, that's a tough question. i'm not going into details of the negotiation. i think that by going out to the media, hamas officials who are disclosing or apparently disclosing details of the

negotiation are trying to influence. so i'm not going to comment on that. i think that we'll have to leave the negotiators to do their business and, you know, what happens behind the scenes stays behind the scenes until we see an agreement that we can all come out with. i'd rather not talk about details, about conditions, about requests and so on. >> reporter: how concerned are you that hamas may come out of this stronger than they were before, with grarlt influence than they had before, particularly over the other group that's in control, the west bank, the palestinian authority? >> i think that palestinians can see for themselves what hamas has brought them. ever since hamas took power over the gaza strip by expelling, through blood and fire, the representatives of the palestinian authority, not israel, but palestinians, gaza has been sinking and has been

sinking into a situation of hopelessness. it has become a sort of platform for rocket launching and attacks and bombings on israelis. of course, its future looks terrible. ever since hamas is in power. i think that after this conflict is over and palestinians in the west bank and in gaza will think about what has happened, they will understand that none of this would have happened had hamas not adopted this -- you called it a rejectionist policy. it's not rejectionist. it's a holy war policy. their only project is holy war until the bitter end, until they destroy israel. and this is something the palestinians need to think about very seriously. is this what they want for gaza, for the west bank for themselves? or do they want to find a path to negotiate peace with israel and co-exist peacefully in two separate independent secure states. i think it's for the

palestinians to make that choice. and until then if our security is threatened, if israeli civilians come under fire, then they will take whatever measures are needed to protect them. at the same time, we are still willing to discuss and to negotiate with the palestinian authority a peace deal. we are willing to talk any time without preconditions, and this situation, this conflict in gaza, has not changed that fundamental position. >> reporter: i appreciate your time tonight. thank you very much. when we come back, i want to show you what it was like up close as we went to the scene of the multiple rocket attack on what was a media center but also a place where islamic jihad, a number of islamic jihad officials, were kong regating according to israeli officials, and one of them was killed in the strike. we'll show you what it was like up close when we come back. whoa! >> take him now. take him now. somebody take him now. ñ?

there over in the sky, you probably won't be able to see it here, there's an interceptor missile taking off now. that is the iron dome interceptor. if you just saw the flash in the sky, that was a rocket coming out of gaza that was just intercepted right now. it appears as though at this point in time there is another barrage being fired from gaza into this part of israel close to the border. >> reporter: when those iron dome anti-aircraft missiles are fired, you can actually see them in the night sky, even sometimes during the day. a few hours ago we saw a number of rockets being fired from a position just a couple blocks from here in the center of gaza city. and we saw the iron dome

anti-missiles go up and take them out. so it's a very effective system. the israelis say about one-third of the 1,000 or so rockets that have been fired into israel have been intercepted. they also say more than 100 or so of those rockets have even fallen elsewhere in gaza, never even made it as far as israel. we talked about it a little earlier on, but i wanted to give you an up-close look at the multiple missile attack we saw earlier today on the media center which is a building about four blocks from here, a building that had been hit on sunday when israeli forces said they were targeting a hamas antenna on the building. today the target was very different. three missiles were fired into the second floor of the building. take a look, seeing it as we saw it when it happened. >> reporter: from our vantage point, we clearly saw two of three rockets slamming into a nearby building. seconds later, we were in our

vehicle racing to the scene. we just saw two to three rockets hitting a building about three or four blocks from our location. it looks like the building's on fire right now. emergency personnel had already begun to rope off the area. in gaza city, they have a lot of experience responding to these kind of incidents. we saw two rockets, one go from this direction, it looked like one on the other side of the building. the building's on fire now. they've gotten the ambulances here pretty quickly. they've got a fire truck on the scene as well. from the damage, it's clear the rockets were aimed at a lower floor. the building that was hit yesterday and houses various media groups, israeli defense forces yesterday said they were aiming for a hamas antenna that they said they took out. >> two injured. >> reporter: local officials say two people were killed. one an official from islamic jihad. he had an office in the building. within an hour, another location

nearby was also hit. whoa! despite talk about negotiations and cease-fires, today this was the reality on the ground. and i'm joined once again by ben wedeman who was on the scene for that attack and cia officer bob baer, cnn contributor, and barbara starr, pentagon correspondent. in terms of the increasingly sophisticated rockets being used, where are they coming from? where are they being smuggled in from? >> they're coming from egypt through tunnels under the desert. most of the components for the rockets are from iran. iran has been building up hamas's capabilities for two decades now. they're getting more and more sophisticated. some of the smaller weapons are being smuggled the same way, but they're coming from places like libya. so there's multiple sources. and i think what we're seeing with the weaponry from hamas, it's getting better and better.

>> reporter: and ben, you've spent a lot of time here. you've been to rocket-making factories, as we discussed at the top of the program, but the technology of how the rockets are being fired has changed. >> reporter: yes. before what they were doing was these quick launches. they had three minutes just on to set up the rocket, light it and leave. aiming really didn't come into it. now they have automated remotely controlled launching systems that are buried under the sand in some of these empty lots just around here. and so they can -- they've been there for a while. and somebody just presses a button and off they go. a much quicker, easier, safer for the hamas fighters system to use. >> reporter: but certainly dangerous for any residents living in those areas living nearby. >> reporter: definitely because oftentimes there is a return strike from the israeli air force. and those are some very big blasts out there and some very crowded parts of town. >> reporter: barbara starr, we heard earlier from an israeli official who said the

preparations are pretty much complete for a ground offensive by israel into gaza if they decide that's necessary, correct? >> reporter: well, that's right, anderson. ambassador michael orr, the israeli ambassador to the united states, told a small group of reporters today that they are done with the planning and the training that they are, in fact, ready to go only awaiting the orders. the ambassador went on to say he hopes it doesn't happen that somehow a diplomatic solution with hamas can be found here, but they are now ready. cnn correspondents have seen it with their own eye as cross southern israel. the troops and equipment is in place. he says they're ready to go. >> reporter: bob, wrooef seen ground offensives before, 2008, 2009. what would that look like this time? >> well, anderson, you've been there a lot. and you know invading and holding on to gaza is a nightmare for israel. it's a warren of groups, refugee camps, buried weapons caches. the israelis do not want to go

back in with a ground force. there is no benefit from it. but on the other hand, if hamas is going to continue these rocket attacks, they're going to have to. but i think at the end of the day, what hamas would like to do is draw sympathy for the palestinians and draw the support of countries like egypt, you know, what's left of syria, jordan and the rest of it. and i think they're continuing to look for some sort of arab backing, hoping to get something out of it. >> reporter: ben, i want to ask you, i talked to the foreign ministry spokesman earlier. he sort of demured on the answer. does hamas come out of this stronger than they were before and stronger than the palestinian group which controls the west bank? >> reporter: certainly if you look at the experience of the last 20 years, yes, it probably will. you look at hezbollah after the 2006 war. they emerged stronger. hamas has -- came out of the operation four years ago with even more power here. what they've done is they've

shown the arab world, the arab street, that they can fight, that their rockets are getting better, that their methods are getting better, and they're winning praise for it. they've got the support of the egyptian government. not militarily, but they have the sympathy of the egyptian people. other arab capitals have had demonstrations in support of the palestinians much more so, in fact, than four years ago. >> reporter: and how does mahmoud abbas who controls the west bank part of their territory come out of this? >> reporter: he's sort of been sidelined by the entire thing. he has been in touch with hamas leaders here in gaza. but in a sense rs he, he's not a player. it's the egyptians who are a critical intermediary. abbas really is on the sidelines. >> reporter: bob, is there a military solution to the conflict here? can israel cut out all the rockets? can they stop all the rockets just through military means? it doesn't seem like it. >> no. no, absolutely not.

and you know, if they continue to get better, what hezbollah has learned to do and the iranians have is to swarm these batteries. if you fire enough rockets in one direction, the iron dome simply can't take them all down. and that's what the dilemma for the israelis, if they just let this go on without a solution, they'll be worse off in two or three more years. they've got to find a diplomatic solution to this. militarily, it's not winnable. >> reporter: anderson, if i could actually add something to that, the iron dome is quite a development technologically, but in a sense, it's a technical remedy for a political solution. without a political solution, hamas will change tactics. don't forget that in the '90s, the early 2000s, they were using suicide bombings. that sort of didn't pay any dividends. they switched to rockets. the rockets don't work, they'll switch to something else. what's needed is a political solution.

>> reporter: long term, not just the immediate cease-fire. ben wedeman, appreciate it, bob baer, barbara starr. when we come back, what we're seeing on the israeli side of the border. our coverage continues. >> announcer: 'tis the season of more-- more shopping, more dining out... and along with it, more identity theft. by the time this holiday season is over, an estimated 1.2 million identities this is charles hodson in london. updating a story we brought you a short time ago. an israeli police spokesman has

told cnn that there was an attack in tel aviv. the attacker slightly injured the embassy guard with an ax. he was also in possession with a knife. contrary to earlier reports which we quoted from reuters news agency, the police spokesman says that the attacker did not have a gun. so no shots but an ax attack instead. and the attacker has been arrested. viewers to cnn in the united states proactive to protect yourself from crime, and that's especially true of identity theft. that's why i'm a member of lifelock. >> announcer: absolutely no one protects you better than lifelock, and they stand behind their protection with the power of their $1 million service guarantee. in fact, last year, lifelock protected over two million people during the holidays. and now they can do it for you. try lifelock's protection 60 days risk-free. call the number on your screen or go to lifelock.com/holidays. it only takes minutes

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solution, the parameters. we'll talk to david kirkpatrick of "the new york times." we'll be right back.

>> reporter: israel continues to hit multiple targets every single day.

they say they hit more than 120 targets yesterday alone. but they're finding it harder and harder to hit actual rocket batteries. they're now targeting buildings. this was a government installation still being hit that was still being hit yesterday. they're also hitting property owned by hamas officials. welcome back to coverage live from gaza city, also jerusalem and other points in between. that was something i shot earlier today, one of the buildings that was hit yesterday by an israeli artillery barrage. the situation, obviously, is very different than it was back in 2008, 2009. the arab spring has changed the geopolitics of the region as many governments which are more islamist based are more sympathetic to hamas, particularly the muslim brotherhood-led government in egypt. back in 2008, 2009, hosni mubarak was in charge in egypt and obviously that situation is radically different. now with mubarak gone and more

freedom of speech, egyptians demonstrating in support of gazans. egypt's prime minister went to gaza friday expressing support. the u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon is in cairo for a diplomatic solution. here's what shimon peres said today to piers morgan about egypt's role. >> we have two surprises. the positive is the constructive role that the egyptian president is displaying right now, and we appreciate very much his efforts. the other is the iranians. they are trying again to encourage the hamas to continue the shooting, the bombing. they are trying to send them arms. they are out of their mind. >> reporter: joined now by "new york times" cairo bureau chief david kirkpatrick. also ann marie slaughter,

princeton university, formerly with the u.s. state department. what do you make of what you have seen over the last 24, 48 hours here on the ground? and most particularly, the possibility of some sort of negotiated settlement? >> well, i think israeli president shimon peres had it right. there are some good words to be said about president mohamed morsi. he is caught on the horns of a dilemma. he's caught between his own public opinion which is very, very an tag nasic to israel and the leads of diplomacy and the needs of the ties to the americans. so he's trying to do it as best he can. he made this remark when he said hey, look, egypt of today is not the egypt of yesterday. the arab world of today is not the arab world of yesterday. but i think there are some real limits as well on the egyptians. one thing that we have to say since we're really beginning to talk about diplomacy, our president is in, i think, now in cambod cambodia. he has with him his secretary of

state and his national security advi adviser. it's a remarkable development. when you ask, what is the role of the united states in this crisis, you are always told oh, they're on the phone. so it is phone diplomacy for the united states, and that's about all. >> reporter: ann marie slaughter, do you agree with that? should the u.s. be doing more here? >> well, at this point, it's not really clear what the u.s. can be doing because although the egyptians and the turks and the qataris all have a big incentive to see a cease-fire that lasts, and i think the u.s. does, too. none of us can want it more than the israeli and the palestinians do. you can't create a settlement unless the principles actually want a settlement, and then you can work out the details of how you're going to get there. but from where i sit right now, both hamas and this israeli government are gaining more from

continuing the conflict than they are -- than they see that they would get from a settlement. that could change. i don't think israel wants a ground war. but right now hamas is actually, as you heard, palestinians are saying well, at least hamas is fighting back. you know, at least we have a government that can fight back. we've had the israelis invade us plenty. but we're fighting back. and on the israeli side, you know, bibi netanyahu has elections coming up. overwhelmingly, there is support for taking out the rocket launchers. >> reporter: i should point out we're also hearing more distant explosions off not here in central gaza but off in the distance. it sounds a bit like rolling thunder, but not actually seeing any of the impact zones at this point. and again, another one right then. david kirkpatrick joining us on the phone.

your view from egypt obviously very changed situation in egypt. fawat saying there's rhetoric. in the end, egypt may not come to the table like many in gaza would hope. what are you seeing? >> i think that's right. there's only so much that egypt could do. what they're trying to do is getting more and more complicated. president mubarak used to hold himself out as a kind of honest broker between hamas and israel. he wasn't, really. he was on the israeli side. more or less. and all the discussions were handled through the intelligence agencies here within the egyptian government. now we see the intelligence agencies talking to the israeli side where they have longstanding contacts. and the office of the president, president mohamed morsi of the muslim brotherhood who, of course, is a longtime fellow islamist, ideological alley of

hamas, handling the other side. so there are almost talks within the egyptian government to parallel the talks between hamas and israel. and what we're seeing the egyptian government begin to do which is, i think, really very new is try to speak out on an international stage to public opinion to say, look, you know, you're being unfair to the palestinians here, to defend the palestinians in various ways. at the same time that they're saying now, that said, all we want is regional stability, and we still want to be an honest broker. our first priority and the bloodshed. that's quite a tight rope to walk, to say we are here, to so to speak, as a representative of the palestinians in the world, speak for the palestinians and to defend what hamas is doing and then to say to the israelis, please, sit down, let's talk. >> reporter: to anne-marie slaughter's point about both sides, hamas and bibi

netanyahu's government both having sentenced to at least in the short term keep this going, if that is, in fact, the case and even if there is ultimately some sort of cease-fire agreement for this immediate conflict, do you see any real road map or any real commitment to developing a longer-term peace agreement? >> well, anderson, i really don't see it. though of us who grew up in the palestine conflict can look with sorrow and we can see the past again. this is all familiar. and when you hear that the hamas people will come out with a victory, these are the victories that have undone and burdened and scarred the palestinian people for the last 60 years. there's always been someone, a gunman, who tells the palestinians that they can win this one. and all what hamas has in gaza is a reign of plunder and a reign of terror. and in fact, the palestinian issue was complicated enough to begin with for so many years, and then hamas adds a complication. it conquers gaza. and you have two palestinian governments, one in ramallah and

one in gaza. they are dependent on the welfare of the world and the sympathy of the world. and this victory -- if a victory is to be had by hamas would be a puric one. there is nothing that hamas can offer the people of gaza except this ruin and sadness. >> reporter: we have to leave it there. anne-marie slaughter as well, david kirkpatrick, appreciate your time as well. again, more explosions we're hearing just as he was talking. we've got to take a quick break. more with arwa damon, ben wedeman, wolf blitzer in jerusalem and also look at president obama's trip to burma, officially known as myanmar. we'll be right back. ñç@rño

we'll have more from anderson and gaza city in a moment. first, a 360 bulletin." president obama is in cambodia tonight, his last stop on his three-nation tour of asia. earlier today he became the first u.s. president to visit myanmar. he met with pro-democracy leader aung san suu kyi. the extensive changes to the benghazi talk points were made by the intelligence community not the white house state department or the justice department. that's according to the spokesman for national intelligence. now, according to new york's congressman, peter king, the original talking points

drafted by the cia specifically mentioned al qaeda ties to the attack, but that was removed. indianapolis police say a major explosion that destroyed several houses and killed two people is now a homicide investigation. the blast ten days ago was so powerful that more than 30 neighboring homes were severely damaged. it looks like there could be hope for hostess. a federal bankruptcy court judge will mediate a meeting tomorrow between management and the striking bakery workers union to see if their differences can be ironed out somehow. more from anderson in gaza city after this short break. stay with us. for the first week... i'm like...yeah, ok... little did i know that one week later i wasn't smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems,

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you look to your left zrukds destruction, people picking out anything they can find. and if you look to your right, destruction. the building next to it blown out. we are standing on what was the roof of a three-story building. >> that was sara sidner reporting from gaza. back with arwa damon, ben wedeman, wolf blitzer from jerusalem. just for some final thoughts. wolf, your thoughts now entering the seventh day of the conflict? >> i think the next day or two we are going to know if the israelis are going to move into gaza. i know they don't want to move in on the ground. they don't want to have that burden. it would be a disaster from everyone's perspective, given the dense population there. a lot of civilian casualties.

the israelis don't want to do it. they are threatening to do it. they mobilized already 30,000 troops. another 40,000 potentially could be on the way. let's hope, anderson, there is a cease-fire that stops this bloodshed and then they can begin the really important and necessary work of trying to start from scratch for all practical purposes and see if there can be a diplomatic solution. israelis and palestinians living side by side. that will take a lot of work, a lot of hard work, and the u.s. is going to have to be strongly involved, unlike the past year or so, where the u.s. has not necessarily gotten involved all that much ever since george mitchell gave up his job as the special u.s. envoy. >> yeah. ben wedeman, arwa damon joining me here in gaza city. opinions are so hardened on both sides of this border. hearts are hardened, opinions have been formed, and the lines are so clear. are you optimistic at all not just for any sort of negotiated cease-fire for this thing, but any kind of long-term solution? >> not really. i think what's interesting is

that tomorrow, the arab league secretary general and several arab foreign ministers are coming here. and what we are going to see, whether optimistic or pessimistic, is a different thing altogether, but we're going to see now that the arab countries as opposed to four years ago are much more engaged in this process, and it's a new equation. it's a new equation. we don't know where it's going to lead but israel, the united states has to pay much more attention to what arab leaders are saying, because they are in a sense reflecting what their people feel. >> arwa, you obviously have been covering the region for a long time as well. >> i would have to say that i do agree with ben. i think there are a lot of dynamics in the region that most certainly have significantly changed, those have had their own impact on this battlefield that exists here that has existed for decades. i do have to say going back to what wolf was talking about when it comes to the possibility of an israeli invasion, people here are absolutely dreading even the

notion of that. they know that the last time the israelis invaded, it wreaked utter devastation upon them. over 1,000 palestinians were killed in that alone and a lot of families we have been talking to tonight saying that they most certainly hope that that is not the direction that this takes right now. >> a lot of questions i get from people in the united states is how popular is hamas here. there are some people saying look, they are firing rockets from civilian areas, you would think some civilians would be outraged about that. what do you hear on the streets here? >> civilians are outraged. it's not as if there's unanimous support for hamas. lot of people here want no part of it. they just pay the price in terms of lost jobs, destroyed homes, dead friends and relatives. they also want it to stop but they also feel that there's a need for a solution to this problem. >> day seven of this conflict begins anew. ben wedeman, thank you. arwa damon, wolf blitzer as well. thanks very much for watching "360" from gaza city. we'll have more from the region tomorrow. "early start" begins right after this break. [ male announcer ] itchy dry scalp?

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